11 Reasons Why Every Affiliate Marketer Should Learn SEO

 As an affiliate marketer, you probably spend a LOT of time thinking of ways to drive traffic to your site.

After all, no traffic = no affiliate sales.

The two main sources of traffic for most websites are usually:

1. Organic Search

2. Paid Advertising

Social media and other sources will also bring visitors to your site, but these are usually your two best bets for consistent, ongoing traffic.

Why Should You Care About Organic Search? 

Of these two main sources of traffic, search always comes out on top. In fact, a recent study by Experian Marketing Services found that on average, 87% of a website’s traffic comes from organic sources. This percentage of course, varies by industry. However it doesn’t change the fact that the majority of traffic in almost every industry comes from people typing their queries into Google or another search engine and clicking on the links in the results. 

This means if your website is not optimized for search, you are potentially losing out on large amounts of traffic. 

But what do I mean by "optimized for search"? I mean, your website should be created and maintained according to several widely accepted best practices for search engine optimization. You should also implement your other marketing efforts (especially content marketing and social media marketing) keeping your SEO goals in mind.

Why Should You Learn SEO?

OK, so we know SEO is important. But, there are thousands of SEO experts in the world. Wouldn’t it just be easier to hire someone to do your SEO instead of trying to understand it all?

Yes, of course. I definitely think it’s a good idea to hire someone with SEO expertise to help you out. However, if you develop an understanding of how search engine optimization works, your affiliate marketing efforts will ultimately benefit from it. In fact, by understanding what your SEO provider does, you may be able to get more out of the services they provide. 

But if you're still not convinced the additional SEO knowledge will do you any good, here are 11 reasons why every affiliate marketer should learn SEO. 

(By the way, our free lesson, Introduction to Affiliate Marketing SEO, is a great place to get started with your SEO learning.)

1. Understand Search Engines

You get that search traffic is important, but do you understand what it takes for your website to do well on a search engine? How do Google, Bing and Yahoo even work?

When you learn SEO, you don't just learn a new marketing skill. You actually start to understand how search engines work. This is hugely useful when you're in the business of driving traffic to your site.

Search engines consistently crawl the web for new content (links) and index them so when a person performs an online search, Google/Bing/Yahoo can deliver the most relevant results for their search query. The results are ranked so the most popular link for a search term (or the one most likely to give an answer) appears at the top (number 1 position). 

But how does a search engine determine the most popular and relevant site for a search term? 

Well, we don't actually know. Search engines rely on secret algorithms to decide what pages to show. SEO experts make educated guesses about what goes into those algorithms based on common factors in high-ranking websites. And Google occasionally drops little hints about what's important, too. These have led to best practices and general guidelines for SEO that make it possible for website owners like yourself to build sites specifically to get found by the search engines.  

I recommend checking out Google's website on How Search Works to get a deeper understanding of what really goes on behind the scenes of the number one search engine. 

If you're interested in learning more about best-practice recommendations for ranking on the major search engines, check these out: 

• Google webmaster guidelines
• Bing webmaster guidelines
• Yahoo search ranking guidelines

By developing a more thorough understanding of search engines and terms like crawling and indexing, page rank and more, you will become more aware of what it takes to optimize your website and benefit from increased search traffic.

2. Improve Your Website's Design

Once you begin to understand how search engines work, you will see that a good website is not just about a pretty design and some clever content. While the focus of modern SEO is to make websites human-friendly, it's important to remember that how you and I see a website is different from how search engines view it. 

For your website to be truly search engine friendly, it must follow some pretty technical specifications for design and development.

Learning SEO will help you grasp the importance of aspects of website creation, such as:

• Creating quality content.
• Making your content indexable. 
• Organizing your website into a proper structure.
• The proper use of keywords in your site content.
• Having quality inbound and outbound links for your website

Here's some advice from Google on how to create a Google-friendly site.

An understanding of SEO will ensure you don't waste your time making website changes that don't deliver results. Plus, for any new websites you launch, you will also know how to structure your site and optimize it right from the start.

3. Optimize Your Content

You don't need me to tell you this, but... content is king.

On your site, on your blog, on social media... everywhere you look, the web is overflowing with millions of pieces of content.

But, how much of it is actually good quality?

In the early days of the web, it took very little to get your website to do well on a search engine. In 2015, that has completely changed. The major search engines are heavily focused on the quality of your website now, and your content has a lot to do with it. 

Quality content is not just about creating a great blog post or a fun infographic. It's about building an entire website that delivers that same quality. For search engines, good content is a sign of a site that is considerate of its visitors; one that tries to anticipate and answer questions. It's all about a good user experience.

Check out this really helpful e-book by SEO.com on 11 Types of Content You Should Be Creating For SEO Right Now.

Here are some guidelines from the major search engines on how to create quality content for your site:

1. Google guidelines on valuable content

2. Yahoo content quality guidelines

3. Bing on how to build quality content

If you're hiring people to do your content, it's important that they create something that won't get you penalized by search engines. When you learn SEO, you also learn what makes for good content so you can guide your writers, designers, bloggers and other content creators in the right direction. Or, if you're doing it all yourself, you'll know how to produce content that will impress your site visitors and search engines.

4. Figure Out What to Do with Keywords

Most people, even if they don't quite get SEO, understand that keywords play a big role in the world of search engines. This is true.

Keywords are fundamental to the search process. It's how users communicate what they're searching for. The search engines deliver results based on these keywords. 

Search engines measure how keywords are used within your website. This helps them determine how relevant your website is for particular search queries. So, it's essential that you use specific, highly relevant keywords to maximize your opportunities for appearing in search results.

But, be careful of keyword abuse. In the early days of the web, stuffing as many keywords as possible onto a page was a common practice. This no longer works and in fact, will count as keyword abuse and will probably get you penalized. Now, it's more important to use your keywords in a relevant, natural way.

Don't be this person! Write naturally so your visitors feel you're having a real conversation. 

Understanding how keywords work will be very helpful for you because:

• You can identify which keywords are relevant for you.
• When you do keyword research, you now know what to look for.
• If you hire a writer for your web content, you can guide them on proper keyword usage.
• You will understand where keywords need to be used, e.g., on page content, in title tags, in meta descriptions, etc. 

5. Understand How Link-Building Works

Links are another big part of the SEO puzzle. 

Search engines use links to analyze a website's popularity, trustworthiness, authority, and much more.  However, not all links are made equal. A trustworthy site is likely to link to another trustworthy site — not to spammy sites. This often helps a search engine determine the quality of links.

The more popular and trustworthy a site, the more significant it is to have a link from them. 

So, to make the most of your link-building efforts, you need to make sure you're acquiring links from other relevant, popular and trustworthy sites. These will be helpful for your website's SEO. Paying for 1,000 irrelevant links will do you no good.

Link-building is an important task for SEO. Whether you're doing your own link building or hiring someone else to do it, you need to understand how it works to make sure you're only building quality links. 

6. Build Your Online Reputation

When you learn SEO and do it right, your site will start to show up in more search results, thus boosting your brand's online visibility. 

How does a boost in your visibility help you? When you start to show up in the results for all the relevant search terms for your industry, your audience and customers will start to think of you as a leader in the industry.

I'm not making this up. People trust organic search engine results more than paid ads.

On average, people believe organic results are more likely to be current and relevant. They want the most authoritative sources. In short, they believe they are getting the best information via search engine results. 

So when you understand SEO, you can figure out how to optimize your site to appear in the results for more queries that are relevant for your customers. The more they see you, the more they will start to trust your site. 

7. Get More Traffic to Your Website

A website optimized for search engines is definitely going to start getting you more traffic.

An eConsultancy study found that an overwhelming 94% of clicks are for organic search results. 

Another experiment also found that 60% of "direct traffic" reported in your data may actually be attributed to organic search.

With people more likely to click on search results than paid ads, it's only natural that if your website is more visible online, you will start to see more people visiting your site. 

Search engines are the first point of contact for most people looking for information. SEO helps you understand how to make your site more visible to the right audience, which in turn results in more traffic to your site.

8. Make More Money

Say your website currently gets a 100 visitors a day. Let's also say that 2% of your visitors click through to your ads and this makes you $2 a day. 

Now, your website is getting a 1,000 visitors a day thanks to solid SEO. You have the same 2% click-through rate. This means you're now making $20 a day!

If you experience a jump in traffic thanks to your SEO efforts, this is eventually going to boil down to increased revenue from your website — especially if your website is optimized to make your traffic convert to sales. Who doesn't like more money?

But to make this extra money, you really have to develop an understanding of what SEO is, how it works and how you can make it work for you.

9. Market Yourself for Free

SEO is free marketing.

Pay-per-click advertising requires you to set daily/monthly budgets that you are willing to spend to buy advertising space on search engines. Each click on an ad will cost you money, and if you're in a particularly competitive industry, clicks can sometimes cost $40-50! 

Clicks on organic results don't cost you any money. All you have to do is maintain your position in the rankings, and the traffic you get is completely free.

Of course, you will be spending time and energy optimizing your site in the first place. It's going to cost you some hours, even if it costs you no money. You can also hire someone else to do the initial work, which will put a dent in your budget. But then you can save money by doing your ongoing SEO maintenance yourself — because you'll understand how SEO works! 

10. Protect Yourself From Sketchy SEO Practices

If you're working with an SEO expert, it's doubly important to at least have an idea of what they're going to do for your site. 

There are thousands of SEO providers out there, and while a lot of them are very good, some will engage in sketchy practices. Their aim is to show you results right away, but there's a few problems with that:

1. These results will be short term.
2. Your site could end up with a penalty. 
3. Google could de-index you for spammy SEO practices.

By learning a bit about search engine optimization, you'll learn the difference between what is good (white hat SEO) and what is bad (black hat SEO). Avoid black hat tactics, and if your SEO provider tries to suggest anything sketchy that falls into this category, you know to send them packing straightaway. SEO takes time, so don't be frustrated if you don't jump in the search rankings overnight!  

11. Become a Better Affiliate Marketer 

Your end goal is not to become better at SEO, but to become better at affiliate marketing...right?

By gaining an understanding of SEO, you will:

• Make better, more SEO-friendly websites, right from the beginning. 
• Get better at driving traffic to your website.
• Create better, more relevant content for your site.
• Build high quality links to your site. 
• Improve your website's authority in the industry. 
• Outdo the competition (especially if they're not doing SEO).
• Spot more opportunities for growing your site and business.

Nobody knows your business better than you, and SEO will only help to enhance that. 

Does this make you want to learn SEO to improve your affiliate marketing efforts? 

If you already do SEO for yourself, what do you think has been the number one benefit of learning SEO for affiliate marketing?

P.S. If you're looking for a tool that shows you whether your SEO efforts are getting you anywhere, we have something for you: AffiloTools automatically tracks your rankings in great detail and in multiple search engines so you can see real results.

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How to Make Your Email Campaign More Clickable

The makeup of an email newsletter can vary tremendously. Some businesses include entire articles in their emails, others send a list of headlines with a teaser paragraph and thumbnail and some just list out headlines.

What works best, in terms of engaging recipients and getting people to click? We asked Stephanie Miller, vice president of member relations at the Direct Marketing Association. As a digital marketing expert, she helps businesses connect with the people, resources, and ideas they need to optimize their response and revenue.

Her first message: there’s no magic bullet that solves this question. However, here are five strategies that will help you arrive at an email campaign that works for best your audience.

Think about your users

It may seem counterintuitive, but putting an entire article in a newsletter can create a better experience for your readers. They can open your email on their computer or mobile device, read your content and then delete or forward it when they’re done. Most businesses want to strike a balance between the user experience and the needs of the business. “It can be a really good experience but, of course, you don’t have any clicks to be sure that they’re reading anything,” Miller says.

Listing a series of articles and links instead of entire posts seems like a solution, but it’s not always the user-friendly option. “You risk people skimming and not clicking on more than one article or not clicking on any articles because they’re on their device and maybe it’s just kind of clunky. Then they miss the content,” says Miller.

Sending too much content can also be stressful for some audiences, especially if they’re busy and don’t have time to read everything.

Explains Miller: “You really have to think about the experience and think about, ‘Is my objective to get the content and create a good experience that’s content-driven, or is my goal to drive them to a website?'”

Test everything

The best layout for your specific email newsletter depends on your audience, and the best way to determine an ideal format for yours is to test several options. “You don’t know what’s going to work best, so you test it,” says Miller. “You can certainly gather ideas and try some best practices, but you never know for your particular audience what’s going to resonate.”

Tracking the rate at which recipients click on the links in your emails over time is one way to test how changes affect audience reaction. Running split tests—where half of your readers get one format and the rest get another—is another way. Talking to your readers, via surveys, on the phone during support calls or in person at events is also key: ask them whether or not they find value in what you’re sending them and why. Use that feedback to guide your decisions and modify your newsletter layout, if needed.

Be relevant and consistent

Email subscribers like to know what they’re getting. If a reader finds a subject line intriguing they expect to be able to find that content easily when they open your email. Make it difficult for them, or worse yet, create a misleading subject line, and you’ll leave readers frustrated or annoyed.

Smartly segmenting your list, or targeting specific groups in your list with highly relevant content, is another way to make sure the recipients of a particular message are interested in the content, which will boost the rate at which they click.

Make links visible

“You want to make sure that your content is visible with images turned off,” Miller points out. Making sure that you have links within the text of your email for your readers to click even if the images, such as a call-to-action button, don’t load is essential.

Have any advice of your own to add? Share away in the comments.

This post contributed by guest author, Yael Grauer. Grauer is a Minneapolis-based freelance writer and editor. Find her online at Yaelwrites.com.

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How to Create a YouTube Channel

If you're reading this article, then I probably don't need to tell you that video content accounts for over 74% of all online traffic, or that over five billion YouTube videos are watched every single day. You're clever.
You already know that YouTube is an important content tool, and you're ready to start leveraging video for your own business.

Download our free guide to learn how to create and utilize video in your marketing to increase engagement and conversion rates. 

This article will cover everything you need to know about creating a YouTube channel, so you can start uploading your own videos and growing your audience today.

How to Create a YouTube Channel

1. Create a Google account (if you don't already have one).
2. Optimize your channel with brand details.
3. Customize your channel with visuals.
4. Add videos and optimize them for search.

1. Create a Google account (if you don't already have one).

To watch, share, create, and comment on YouTube content, you'll need a Google account.

If You Don't Already Have a Google Account

Go to youtube.com and click "sign in" in the upper right-hand corner. From there, you'll be taken to a Google sign-in page. Click "more options":
Then, click "create account":

From there, you'll be asked to follow a few steps to create a Google account. Once you've completed them, proceed with the steps below.

If You Do Already Have a Google Account

Go to youtube.com and click "sign in" in the upper right-hand corner. From there, you'll be taken to the same Google sign-in page above. If you have multiple Google accounts, be sure to select the one you want to be associated with the YouTube channel.

2. Optimize your channel with brand details.

Once you're set up with and signed into your YouTube account, it's time to create a channel. Back at youtube.com, click your user icon in the upper right-hand corner. You'll see a drop-down menu, where you'll want to click "settings."

From there, you'll be taken to your account overview. Under "additional features," click "create a new channel."

The first step is to create a Brand Account. It can be whatever name you want, and doesn't have to be the same name that you used to create your Google account -- but we do recommend that it reflects the brand the YouTube Channel will represent.

After you enter the Brand Account name, you might be asked to verify the account via text message or voice call. If that happens, enter the code you receive from the option you choose.

Once you've verified your Brand Account, you'll be taken to the dashboard for your channel. Now, it's time to start customizing it. 

3. Customize your channel.

There are two elements of customization for a new YouTube channel: descriptive details, and visuals.

Descriptive Details

From your channel dashboard, click "customize channel."

We'll start with the fundamental details about your channel. After you click "customize channel," you'll be taken to your basic channel page, where you'll see a cogwheel on the right.

Click that, then click on the section that says "advanced settings."

Here's where you'll enter some basic information about your channel, like the country where it's based, as well as optimize it for discoverability by adding keywords that describe what it's about and selecting whether or not you want it to appear as a recommended channel on other account pages. It's also within these settings that you can link an AdWords account, add a Google Analytics property tracking ID and make advertising selections.
Next, you'll want to add your channel description and links. Back on your channel customization dashboard, click on the "About" tab.

There, you'll be asked to fill in such details as a channel description, which you can optimize for discoverability -- more on that later -- as well as contact information, and links to your website and social media channels. Up to five links can overlay your channel art, meaning that the banner on your profile page will contain icons for the links you choose to overlay on this list.
For example, if you wanted to overlay your banner with a link to your Facebook Page, it might look like this:

 

Your channel art is part of your channel's customization, which we'll move onto next.

Visuals

When it comes to creating and adding channel art, Google has a plethora of resources for content owners, from a gallery of images to image editing tools.
One of the trickiest parts of channel art is creating a responsive banner that matches dimensions for various user experiences, like desktop, mobile, or TV. Luckily, Google has this handy image that represents the best dimension for each viewing platform ...

Source: Google

... as well as this concise video explainer:

Need a little inspiration? Check out this post with some of the best YouTube banners we've found.
You'll also want to upload your profile photo. If your channel is linked to a Brand Account, as is the example we've used in this step, then you'll need to update this image in the "about me" section of your Google account. Note that this rule also applies to your channel name when using a Brand Account.
When you click "change" under your profile icon, you might see this message:

Click "edit," and you'll be taken to this page, where you can edit your Brand Account information, including your profile photo (which will be displayed on your YouTube channel).

We recommend choosing an image with dimensions of 800 x 800 pixels.
Next, it's time to add your channel art, like a banner image. Back on your channel customization dashboard, you'll see
Cover art dimensions on mobile and more, best tips (), etc ...

4. Add videos and optimize them for search.

Optimizing your channel for discoverability is just the beginning. Once you start adding videos, you'll want to optimize them for search, which in turn helps users discover your video.
But this goes beyond giving your videos accurate, clear, and concise titles -- though that is important. Below, we describe some of the most important things to optimize on YouTube. (For a fully comprehensive post on YouTube SEO, visit this post.)

Title

When we search for videos, one of the first things that our eyes are drawn to is the title. That's often what determines whether or not the viewer will click to watch your video, so the title should not only be compelling, but also, clear and concise.

Description

This should be limited to 1,000 characters -- and remember that your viewer came here to watch a video, not to read a lot of text. Plus, YouTube only displays the first two or three lines of text, which comes to about 100 characters, so front-load the description with the most important information.

Tags

Using tags doesn’t just let viewers know what your video is about -- they inform YouTube, too, which uses tags "to understand the content and context of your video," according to Backlinko. That way, YouTube can associate your video with similar videos, which can broaden your content's reach. But approach with caution -- just as with your title, don't use misleading tags because they might get you more views -- in fact, Google might penalize you for that.

Category

Choosing a category is another way to group your video with similar content on YouTube -- but that might not be as simple as it sounds. YouTube's Creator Academy suggests that marketers "think about what is working well for each category" you're considering by answering questions like:

• Who are the top creators within the category? What are they known for, and what do they do well?
• Are there any patterns between the audiences of similar channels within a given category?
• Do the videos within a similar category have share qualities like production value, length, or format?

That's it -- you've officially not only created a YouTube channel, but now also know how to optimize its content for discoverability. For more information on how to best leverage YouTube for marketing, check our entire collection of resources.


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How to Create a Successful Email from Head-to-Toe

 Ever wonder what makes an email look great and work successfully? You probably have, we get this question a lot. To help answer that question we’re going to go through an email from head-to-toe and point out components that will give you a successful email.

Let’s start at the top:

From Label – This should be your company name, as most people will recognize your company more quickly than say, your personal name, and since you have just a few seconds to get someone to open your email, you want quick recognition.

Subject Line – Once your reader understands who sent the email, the subject line is what will entice them to open it. Write something catchy or interesting, but also informative (easier said than done, right?) Check out our free Savvy Subject Line Writing for Success guide for help!
 

Background – Use an email background color or pattern that’s easy on the eyes. The colors in the example below aren’t too bright, dark or distracting. Using black text (dark gray is good too) on a white background is the easiest to read.

Social Sharing – Make it easy for your recipients to share your email socially. These buttons are built into our system so they’re easy to add, plus you can put them anywhere in your email.

Pre-header – We can’t talk about this enough! Some email programs (including iPhones) pull the first line of text in the email into the subject line. Take advantage of this feature to get better open rates.

Table of Contents – If you have a longer email, include a table of contents to show your readers the great info found further in your email.

Links – Give your reader lots of opportunities to get to your website and do what you want them to do. Link your images, text, pre-header, buttons, etc. Plus, link clicks are tracked, so this will give you more insight into your recipient’s interests.

Industry News – Including blog posts, third-party articles, statistics, and industry news that’s relevant to your business and recipients will keep your email readers engaged. Plus, your readers will look at you as a knowledgeable resource – Just make sure to give appropriate source credit.

Keep in Touch – Include several ways to get in touch with your company, including a direct email link. If you have a brick-and-mortar store, also include business hours. And, with the holidays rapidly approaching, it’s a good place to list any special holiday hours.

Forward to a Friend – Including this link will allow your readers to share your great content with their friends or colleagues. And anyone who receives an email forwarded this way will have the option to be added to your mailing list – An easy and free way to keep your list growing.

Two things I would add to the already great email example above:

Call-to-Action Buttons – Buttons are more compelling to click than text links, and easier for mobile readers to touch. Include a couple buttons in your emails and you could see your clickthrough rate go up. We have a free tool to help you create them too!

Social Buttons – In addition to the social sharing buttons, include buttons that link to your company’s social accounts: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, wherever you have an account for your business.

Easy, right? Hopefully the answer is yes. Most of these components can be added to your emails through your VerticalResponse account via the tool bar, in either the Wizard or Canvas editors. Try them out in your next email and see if you get better engagement.

Have you tried using any of these tips in your email? What were your results?

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SEO 101: 10 Tips To Getting Free Traffic

Traffic. Not always a good thing.

But in the online world, it’s a measure of website success.

Every person or business with an online presence is constantly looking for effective ways to increase traffic to their websites.

Websites that most people find online by using a search engine.

Wouldn’t it be great if your business was at the top of the list when someone searches for a topic or product within your industry? Yeah, duh.

Unless you’re a genius and you’ve managed to crack the complicated algorithms that search engines like Google and Bing use to rank search results, that isn’t going to happen anytime soon.

But that’s where SEO, search engine optimization, comes into play.

While there’s no hard-and-fast way to skyrocket your site to the top of a list of search results, there are some effective SEO guidelines you can follow to help “optimize” your website for search engine recognition.

Want to upgrade your organic rankings, and thus, traffic to your website? Check out these 10 SEO tips.

1. Start with keyword research

How do people perform an online search? With a keyword.

So you need to identify what keywords and keyphrases have the greatest search volume within your industry.

First, think about your target customer. What would someone seeking out your company be looking for, specifically? Tortilla chips? Massages?

Then get more specific. The more generic the term, the greater the likelihood that it’s being used by a ton of other companies. And you don’t want to get lost among the competition.

Base your keywords on highly searched terms, then tailor them to the particular goods or services you offer. For instance, buy organic blue corn tortilla chips. Or, Houston deep tissue massages.

This is known as a “long-tail” keyword strategy.

How do you determine the best keywords to use? Give Google AdWords’ Keyword Planner Tool or Moz’s Keyword Explorer a test drive:

Another great option to try is TrafficTravis. This software has both free and paid options (depending on your needs) and is extremely easy to use. Plus, it offers more than just keyword research tools.
You can perform full site SEO checks, monitor search engine rankings, build quality backlinks and more!

2. Craft the right page titles

The body copy of your website isn’t the only place where you should be using keywords. They’re essential for use in page titles as well.

Include a few in your titles, but only where they make sense. You should never sacrifice content for keywords.

Make sure your titles are clear, direct and as descriptive as possible of the content the reader will find on that page. As with keywords, crafting page titles that are unique to your business is beneficial as well.

3. Include heading tags

You’ll want to include heading tags within the body copy of your website.

Again, these should include keywords appropriate to the topics being covered, without purposely “keyword-stuffing” content and sacrificing meaning.

Format using H1 tags for the title of a post or article and H2 tags for headings within the copy.
Where it improves readability and organization, include italics and bold formatting.

These types of formatting not only help improve user experience and readability, but also help Google’s algorithms identify the information found on your page.

4. Beef up your meta descriptions

You know that little “blurb” of information that’s located below each link on a search engine results page? That’s a meta description.

Create a meta description that will clearly inform someone of what he or she will find by visiting your site. What details will make them want to visit your site over the others that came up in their results?

Best practices? Make your copy easy to read and understand. Stay within the 150 character range and use effective keywords – without stuffing.

5. Build internal links

Not to be confused with external links, which send visitors to other websites, internal links direct visitors to other pages of your website.

This is your chance to keep them on your website longer and increase length of time on page, as well as traffic to other pages.

Just make sure you’re using internal links effectively.

Make sure they:

• “Fit” within the copy.
• Link to other articles on your site using the full post title or keyword anchor text, not terms like “click here.”
• Are easy to understand.
• Help readers navigate your site better.
• Aren’t overused within the copy.

6. Optimize your URL

Ever see those URLs that are a jumbled mess of numbers, words and symbols, making no coherent sense? Yeah, not good for your SEO.

As you may have expected based on the above, it’s important to make your URL clear and free of unnecessary words or numbers. Make sure it’s consistent with the title of the page.

Add keywords and keyphrases where possible, without stuffing. The more significant the word, the closer to the beginning of the URL you should aim to place it.

Most importantly, use hyphens to separate words – Google is able to identify these as word separators.

Considering all of these best practices, a good example of a URL linking to an article called “SEO Tips: The Definitive Guide For Newbies” could look something like this:

http://www.yourwebsitename.com/blog/seo-tips

7. Include images the smart way

Let’s be honest, images make all copy better. Well, almost all copy…

But you want your images to be helping out your SEO efforts too.

Name your image files similarly to how you optimize your URLs – include important, relevant keyphrases, and again, use hyphens to separate words. Make sure the file names make sense and aren’t just a mashup of numbers or terms.

You should also apply these guidelines to describe the image in the alt text. This is the HTML text related to your image that is recognized by search engines.

One last thing – make sure you adjust your images to a size that’s “just right.” Small enough to not affect the loading time and speed of your website, large and quality enough that they aren’t fuzzy or hard to see.

8. Amp up your page speed

Did you know the speed of your page affects your ranking in Google’s search results?

Sounds odd, but makes sense knowing that a search engine’s goal is ultimately to deliver the most relevant results as quickly as possible.

Plus, the faster your page, the better the user experience. Which keeps people coming back, i.e. more traffic to your site…given you have great content that interests them.

Things you can do to increase your page speed (that are relatively simple, even for the most IT-adverse):

• Get rid of unessential plug-ins
• Adjust the size of your images
• Use GTmetrix to evaluate your site and get ideas for improvement

9. Don’t forget to breadcrumb

Web breadcrumbs are just the “trail” of links at the top of a webpage that essentially show visitors the path they took on your site to get to that particular page. They help visitors navigate more easily.

Each of your internal pages should feature one.

An example breadcrumb might look like “Home > Widgets > Blue Widgets” – users will be able to see the hierarchy of their current location to the parent category.

Perhaps they really don’t need a blue widget, but wanted to see the other widgets available. Clicking on the “Widgets” link in the breadcrumb will take them to a page of all available widgets.

Is your website missing breadcrumb navigation? No sweat.

Some website creation tools offer plug-ins to help create breadcrumbs. And if you’re using WordPress, this breadcrumb plugin is among one of the most popular.

10. Make content your priority

At the end of the day, people are going to spend more time, return and refer others to your website ONLY if the content they’re getting is interesting, informative and what they’re looking for.

If you’re following tips 1-9 to a tee and still having traffic issues, chances are, you’ve let content slip from your priority list.

If you know your target audience and customers, then you should know what kind of information they will be seeking by vising your site.

Here are some tips to keep in mind when developing content for your pages:

• Format your copy for readability
• Make sure your page contains copy that lives up to what its title promises
• Aim for quality over quantity
• Keep your information fresh, add new stuff regularly
• Include keywords where applicable
• Watch for grammar, spelling and punctuation errors

Keeping up with the Joneses

Don’t think that by applying a few tips and adopting a set-it-and-forget-it mindset you’ll always be on top of your SEO game.

Because technology and website methodologies are evolving at the speed of a Google search.

These 10 tips are a great way to get you on the road to site traffic success, but they’re just the tip of the SEO iceberg.

Keeping an open mind toward learning, utilizing super effective SEO tools and adopting a flexible website strategy are the best things you can do get ahead of your competition – and stay there.

What tip are you looking forward to implementing the most for your site? Let us know in the comments below!


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